Wire drawing block



Dec. 24, 1935. w SOMMER 2,025,535

' WIRE DRAWING BLOCK Filed April 26, 1934 Patented Dec. 24, 1935 UNITEDSTATES WIRE DRAWING BLOCK William H. Sommer, Peoria, 111., assignor toKeystone Steel & Wire Company, Peoria, 111., a corporation of IllinoisApplication April 26, 1934, Serial No. 722,580

4 Claims.

This invention has reference to the art of .metal drawing and it relatesparticularly to wire drawing blocks such as are used in association withdrawing dies for reducing wire rods to wire 5 and the drawn wire todifferent gauges for different manufacturing purposes.

In the art of drawing wire, wire drawing blocks are used singly inassociation with a drawing die, and such blocks are sometimes arrangedin series with a die for each successive reduction of the wire andguiding means between each block, as for example in what are known ascontinuous wire drawing machines' It is well known to those skilled inthe use .of

wire drawing blocks that the greatest source of trouble is the wear ofthe surface of the blocks themselves. This wear arises from slippage ofthe wire on the surface of the blocks there being substantially alwayspresent particles of scale and other materials which are capable of ahigh degree of abrasive action. slippage of the wire upon the surface ofthe blocks, in the presence of abrasive materials, obviously promotesthe formation of grooves in the surface of the blocks to render themunsuitable for practical use, frequently resulting in grooves beingformed which tend to cause breakage of the wire; or from hammer blows onthe surface of the block which produces indentations in such surface. Tomeet these conditions it has heretofore been necessary to either replacea drawing block with a new one or to remove the block from the machinefor the purpose of machining or reconditioning its surface, which is notonly costly but when machining 5 is resorted to renders the machineinoperative for a considerable period of time; or as is sometimesresorted to a wear strip is employed which is removably secured aboutthe surface of the block to be replaced by others as wearing occurs.

40 By the use of my improved wire drawing block these expensive andtroublesome difficulties are entirely done away with and a block isprovided which has a substantially increased life not heretofore deemedpossible and. without the use of replaceable wear strips or thenecessity for machining or reconditioning the block surface.

The invention has for its principal object to provide a wire drawingblock with a wire engaging surface of a degree of hardness which is wearresistant and which will withstand hammer blows and resultingindentations in its surface.

The invention has for a further object a wire drawing block, the surfaceof which is plated with 55 a material characterized by a high degree ofhardness, that is to say wear resistance and. which is frictionless aspossible.

An additional object lies in the provision of a wire drawing block madefrom material having a high degree of mechanical strength sufilcient 5to resist injury through stresses set up as a result of its practicaluse, which material may have the quality of resistance to abrasion toonly a limited degree, and a layer of material having the quality ofresistance to abrasion in particu- 10 larly high degree interposedbetween the wire and surface of the first mentioned material whereby theblock as a whole is made more capable of resisting mechanical injury andabrasive wear. 15

A further object of the invention is a wire drawing block having achromium plated surface.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a wire drawingblock the surface of which is hardened for a substantial depth and such20 hardened surface plated or otherwise covered with chromium or othermaterial characterized by a high degree of resistance to abrasion.

In the drawing- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a wire drawing bench 5 ormachine showing wire drawing blocks embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a face view of Fig. 1 partly broken away;

- Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a wire drawing 30 block;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view through the block,

transverse to that shown in Fig. 3, as the same would appear if taken onthe line l4 Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional detail showing the body of the block onwhich the drawn wire is coiled or wrapped, the exterior and interiorsurfaces of which are hardened to a substantial depth and the exteriorhardened surface plated or otherwise covered with chromium or othermaterial having a high degree of resistance to abrasion.

Like characters of reference denote corresponding parts throughout thefigures.

For the purpose of showing the application and use of a wire drawingblock I have shown in Figs. 1 and 2 a conventional form of continuouswire drawing bench. In these figures I designate the bench proper onwhich are mounted a plurality of drawing blocks 2, each embodying myinvention. There is also provided a take-up block 3. Associated withthese blocks are drawing .dies 4 and sets of guides 5 and 6. Wire as itis drawn passes successively through the succeeding dies, around thesuccessive drawing blocks,

in the manner indicated, and the final draft is coiled or wrapped on thetake-up block 3. This is substantially the method employed in wiredrawing practice, varying according to special design of bench.

In Figs. 3, 4 and 5 I have shown a conventional design of wire drawingblock 2, which is subject to many variations, depending on mill practiceas well as on the kind and character of work to be performed. It is thewire engaging or wire contacting surface with which the invention isconcerned and in the instant showing this surface is designatedappearing on a substantially cone body 8 held between heads or plates 9and Ill.

The wire, following each drawing step, is coiled a plurality of timesabout each block, as is well understood, and finally coiled on thetake-up block. The wire engaging surface of the block is subject toconstant wear, the one great source of trouble in wire drawing practice,which the present invention eliminates. This is accomplished by platingor otherwise covering the wire engaging surface of a wire drawing blockwith chromium or other abrasion resisting material, indicated at H. Thechromium metal may be electrically deposited on the working surface ofthe block. The surface of the material of the body of the block ispreferably hardened to a substantial depth, as indicated at I 2, Fig. 5.

As is well known, it is common practice in the manufacture of wiredrawing blocks to utilize materials, such as steel or chilled iron,having a high degree of mechanical strength, and it would follow thatthe hardest material would wear longest under the conditions ofpractical use.

However, experience teaches that the hardest and strongest metalsavailable for commercial application, while having ample strength toresist any mechanical stress produced as a result of the use hereconsidered, may not be characterized by a particularly high degree ofresistance to abrasion.

It is also well known that in the process of drawing many of the commongrades of wire there is present on the surface thereof acertain amountof scale, which is characterized by hardness and abrasive qualities, andin the atmosphere and on surfaces adjacent the work there is nearlyalways present a certain amount of dust containing abrasive materials.

Further, as has already been noted, in the process of drawing wire,there is necessarily a certain amount of slippage of the wire on theblock while at the same time the contact pressure between the wire andthe block may beof considerable magnitude.

It is thought obvious that such movement of wire upon the surface of theblock, in the presence of abrasive materials, provides an ideal method,if such were desired,- of wearing grooves in the block. This result,however, is precisely opposed to the one desired, which is, to preventdeformation of the surface and maintain it in smooth working condition.

It is to this end that I provide a layer of material which isparticularly characterized by a high degree of resistance to abrasion,interposed between the wire and surface of the body of the block.

The material of this layer isselected principally upon the onecharacteristic of resistance to abut-- sion, its mechanical strength andother characteristics being of secondary consideration. Chromium isherein referred to as typical of materials which may be used.Electro-plating would be a convenient method of integration of thematerials.

In the presently described application we have a Wire drawing blockconsisting of a body member composed of material having mechanicalstrength characteristics suitable to withstand the various stressesapplied in practical use and in addition a layer of material interposedbetween the wire and material of the block for the purpose of protectingthe material of the block from abrasive wear. With the damage fromabrasive wear minimized, the material of the block may remain free frominjury for an indefinite time. Chromium, as is well known, ischaracterized in a very high degree by wear resistance and a more,machining or reconditioning of the wire 1 engaging surface of the blockis eliminated, as well as the use of removable wear strips which have,at times, been resorted to. Obviously, in lieu of chromium otherdepositable metals having these characteristics may be employed.Therefore, while a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown anddescribed, it is to be understood that this is merely exemplary of theconcept herein involved and typifies any equivalent structure by whichthe improved results outlined may be secured.

This hardened surface enables the structure to have ample strength towithstand mechanical stresses and forms a rigid non-deformable supportfor the overlying highly abrasive material.

Applicant has redrafted his claims in order to more forcibly present hisinventive concept and therefore asks that the present claims hewithdrawn and in place thereof the following claims inserted:

What I claim is:

1. A wire-drawing block having a hardened peripheral face to provide arigid non-deformable supporting surface, and an abrasive resistingplating supported by said face to constitute the wire-engaging surface.

2. A wire-drawing block having a hardened peripheral face, and achromium plating supported thereon to constitute the wire-engagingsurface.

3 A wire-drawing block having its periphery hardened to a sufficientdepth to withstand mechanical stresses, and an abrasion resistingplating associated therewith to constitute the wireengaging surface. v

4. As a new article of manufacture, a wiredrawing block comprising aroll body portion peripherally hardened for a substantial depth andcovered by a smooth work facing of relatively high resistance toabrasion, the latter consisting of chromium plating overlying andcoextensive with said hardened body portion, whereby said block ispreserved by said cover facing and hardened portion from grooving,indenting, or other damage from excessive strain or shock.

' WILLIAM H. SOMMER.

